WORKSHOP PAPER
Jailbreak Imagers: Transforming a Single-Photon Image Sensor into a True Random Number Generator.
Samuel Burri1, Damien Stucki2, Yuki Maruyama3, Claudio Bruschini1, Edoardo Charbon3, Francesco Regazzoni3
1EPFL, School of Engineering, Lausanne, 1015 Switzerland
2ID Quantique, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland
3Delft University of Technology, 2628 Delft, Netherlands

Abstract

In this paper we present a large array of SPADs and we discuss its suitability for applications different than imaging, exploring in particular how to transform it into a high speed True Random Number Generator (TRNG). The proposed matrix comprises 512x128 independent cells that convert photons into a raw bit-stream, which, as ensured by the properties of quantum physics, is characterized by a very high level of randomness. The sequences are read out in a 128-bit parallel bus, concatenated, and pipelined onto a de-biasing filter. Our results, achieved by coupling two matrices, show that our architecture can reach up to 5 Gbit/s while consuming 25pJ/bit, to our knowledge the lowest in a TRNG to date.
Publisher: IISS (Int. Image Sensors Society)
Year: 2013
Workshop: IISW
URL: https://doi.org/10.60928/9imd-xp99
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Keywords

True Random Number Generator, Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes, Quantum Randomness,

References

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